Children are instinctively loyal – a father doesn't need to be extraordinary; he just needs to be their father. Poets are tireless in contemplation – they see wonders in monotony.
Most of us, of course, are no longer children, yet we haven't become poets either. However, with God's help, we can begin to develop loyalty and attentiveness within ourselves in our presence among ordinary people and places around us.
If we do that, we can discover how thrilling and wonderful it truly is here.
Where are the wonders?
“Lord, how manifold are Your works!” (Psalms, Ch. 104, v. 24a*), exclaims one of the biblical poets with the most childlike heart, millennia before cars, trains, planes, or screens could show him the height and depths of God's works. Where was he looking then? What inspired this verse? The clouds, and the earth, the peaks and the rivers, the animals and those bearing God's image that adorned the place he called home.
“To live where you are makes the world look big again”
In some sense, the psalmist's world is smaller than ours. But looking deeper, his world is many times more expansive. While living as a limited human, graciously fixed in place and time, he sees more than we do today. Who today has eyes to see the wonders in Psalm 104? We walk with heads down, engrossed in the smartphone. We wander the world with our phones while trampling the flowers at home.
Living where we are makes the world big again. It opens our eyes to everyday wonders in our homes, our neighborhoods, our churches. It reminds us that the most exciting and important events are not on the screens in front of us but in the successes and struggles of ordinary brothers and sisters in the small groups we belong to. It finally frees us to discover galaxies of wonders here, in this small frame of God's creation, where the heavens declare the glory of God, creation sings His majesty, and immortal souls live, walk, laugh, and weep. So, live where you are, not because home is the most remarkable place in the world, but because the Lord has placed you there. And for those who have eyes to see, this place is filled with “wonderful deeds.”
*Biblical quotes according to the text of Bible, new translation from original languages © Bulgarian Bible Society 2013.
Source: www.desiringgod.org
Translation: Joanna Ruseva
Photo: Lubo Minar/Unsplash.com